MEP Gay Mitchell has criticised the “bigotry” evident in the election
of a Catholic candidate to the European Union’s health portfolio.Speaking ahead of a vote on the election of Malta’s Dr Tonio Borg as EU Health Commissioner, Mr Mitchell said he had witnessed clear anti-religious bias from “some elements” within the European Parliament on the issue.
Intrusion
“The idea that a candidate cannot hold a belief is an outrageous intrusion,” Mr Mitchell said, adding that whether one shared the view of another or not, it was the role of the parliament to defend the right to hold that view.
“Unfortunately there are those who see belief in God as ‘old fashioned,” he said. “That’s something we have to challenge.”
Mr Mitchell, who sat in on the sessions where the candidate was grilled by EU deputies on his views, including those on abortion and homosexuality, said “his track record is what we should judge him on, not his faith”.
Mr Mitchell’s words echoed those of Malta’s Bishop Charles Scicluna, who condemned the anti-Catholic sentiment surrounding Mr Borg.
“The situation is very saddening,” Bishop Scicluna said. “What will they do if the commissioner designate is a Muslim? What will they say about his outlook on life? Be honest, they do not want him simply because he is a Catholic.”
The objections in the Borg case are similar to those voiced against the Catholic Rocco Buttiglione in 2004, when the Italian candidate was forced to withdraw over his views on homosexuality.
Among those who attacked Mr Borg’s nomination were MEP for Ireland East Nessa Childers who said that because of his conservative views “I fear that Dr Borg will not be impartial, and would let his social views influence EU policy.... As his hard-line social views would be in contradiction with the demands of his portfolio, I will be voting against his nomination.”